This invention is directed to hygienic absorbent articles, such as diapers, training pants and the like. Particularly, the invention is directed to a disposable diaper including cuffs that are integral with the side panels.
Infants and other incontinence individuals wear disposable absorbent articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. Absorbent articles function both to contain and to isolate the discharged materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer""s garments and bed clothing. Disposable absorbent articles having many different basic designs are known in the art. Contemporary disposable diapers comprise a fluid pervious topsheet, a fluid impervious backsheet, an absorbent core, and elasticized leg flaps. Each of the elasticized leg flaps are generally formed from an elastic member disposed along longitudinal edges of the absorbent core and enclosed between the topsheet and the backsheet. These elasticized leg flaps generally prevent wicking and overflow from the fluid laden diaper to clothing contacting the edges of the diaper. In addition, the elasticized leg flaps provide a gasketing action about the legs of the wearer to maintain a seal about the leg and to minimize gapping. However, leakage along the perimeter of the diaper may still occur. For instance, as the diaper is worn for long periods of time, forces tend to act on the diaper to degrade the initial fit on the wearer causing large gaps and sagging particularly around the legs and waist. Thus, as liquids are deposited onto the topsheet, some of the liquid is not immediately absorbed through the topsheet and migrates toward the edges of the diaper where it can leak through or past the gaps in the diaper and come in contact with clothing or undergarments where it can be absorbed by and wicked into such garments.
Disposable diapers have been provided with separately attached barrier cuffs that inhibit loose fecal material or gushes of urine or liquids from soiling the wearer""s clothing. The barrier cuffs restrain the free flow of this material and provide a structure to hold such material within the diaper. Typically, the barrier cuffs are formed by attaching an independent web of cuff material to the topsheet web or to the topsheet of a completed chassis. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,278 to Lawson teaches a dual cuff arrangement in which the barrier cuff is a separate element joined to the topsheet. The addition of the independent web or cuff material to the topsheet increases the bulk of the chassis and may result in a product that is noisy in use. What""s more, when the barrier cuff is attached to the topsheet as a separate element, special machinery dedicated to attaching the barrier cuffs is required, which adds to the cost of the completed article.
Furthermore, when conventional diapers are manufactured, notches are cut in the sides of the article to provide a contour for the legs of the person who will wear the article. For example, leg notches account for approximately 15-20% of the area of an absorbent article. The portion removed from the article to create the leg notches has no further use in the manufacturing process and is discarded. Thus, the current methods of manufacturing diapers produce a large volume of unnecessary waste.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a disposable absorbent article, such as a diaper, having good containment characteristics and comfortable to the wearer. It would also be desirable to provide a disposable absorbent article having good containment and breathability characteristics that is economical and easy to manufacture at high speeds.
In order to solve one or more of the problems found in the art, a disposable absorbent article is provided comprising a liquid pervious topsheet having a body-facing surface, a liquid impervious backsheet forming the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article, and an absorbent core disposed between the topsheet and the backsheet. Barrier leg cuffs are disposed along opposing sides of the absorbent core and a pair of side panels are disposed outboard of the barrier leg cuffs on opposing sides of the article. Center portions of the side panels are congruent with the longitudinal edges of the absorbent article while end portions extend beyond the longitudinal edges forming front and rear ear panels.
The barrier leg cuffs and the side panels are integrally formed from a single nonwoven ply. The single nonwoven ply may be profiled to provide a nonwoven material having different basis weight regions. For instance, the single nonwoven ply may comprise a first region forming the barrier leg cuffs and a second region forming the side panels wherein the first region has a lower basis weight than the second region. The profiled configuration can provide a side panel delivering the material strength needed for securing a fastening device to the diaper while providing coverage of the wearer""s skin that is not only breathable and quiet, but also aesthetically pleasing. At the same time the barrier leg cuff region can be provided at a lower basis weight to deliver a softness that is comfortable to the wearer""s skin.
In an alternate embodiment, the topsheet, barrier leg cuffs, and the side panels are formed from a single nonwoven ply. For this embodiment, the single nonwoven ply may comprise a third region forming the topsheet. The third region may have a different basis weight than the first and second regions and include a hydrophilic coating.